Break in Oil?
I think break in spacific oil is more nesecary with a flat tappet camshaft. A roller cam engine would be all right with regular oil, with a oil change shortly after getting it running.
My builder (TPIS) recommended I don't. I got oreillys brand oil. Changed it after I seated the rings then again 100 miles after that to some Castrol GTX, and that is what I run now. Conventional, not synthetic...
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I used the Comp Cam's break in lube with my 383 stroker build with good results. If the motor was just built, you or whoever did it should have oiled everything as it was reassembled. My motor was built and sat for a few months before the project got finished, so I wanted to use some just to be sure. I pulled the ignition fuse and turned the car over a bunch of times to get oil to the top end, and then fired her up. Worked fine.. don't know if there would be any difference really, but it was like 8$ a bottle at Summit.
I did 2 break in cycles - one bottle the first time, ran it for 500 miles going through each gear winding it out building the r's up, going up and down hills, on and off ramps to the freeway, then engine breaking back down (auto car but same concept for both). Drove it aggressively but never floored it that first 500 miles. I was told by the builder this was the best way to do it, building & dropping compression getting everything seated.
Changed the oil and had a decent amount of little shavings on the plug, oil was semi-dark already. Threw the second bottle in and beat the **** out of the car for another 500 miles giving it a good work out. Changed the oil again which I probably could have left in because it was very clean, and was good to go.
Lots of people say you don't need to break it in or the best way is to just get in and beat the hell out of it, but I always try to do that little extra to make sure it's done right. I'm not wealthy and my cars mean a lot to me so I made sure and asked everyone I could with engine building experience, what I described above was generally agreed upon as a great method.
I did 2 break in cycles - one bottle the first time, ran it for 500 miles going through each gear winding it out building the r's up, going up and down hills, on and off ramps to the freeway, then engine breaking back down (auto car but same concept for both). Drove it aggressively but never floored it that first 500 miles. I was told by the builder this was the best way to do it, building & dropping compression getting everything seated.
Changed the oil and had a decent amount of little shavings on the plug, oil was semi-dark already. Threw the second bottle in and beat the **** out of the car for another 500 miles giving it a good work out. Changed the oil again which I probably could have left in because it was very clean, and was good to go.
Lots of people say you don't need to break it in or the best way is to just get in and beat the hell out of it, but I always try to do that little extra to make sure it's done right. I'm not wealthy and my cars mean a lot to me so I made sure and asked everyone I could with engine building experience, what I described above was generally agreed upon as a great method.
Last edited by Ifitaintbroke; Nov 9, 2012 at 11:11 PM.
Joined: Nov 2001
Posts: 10,023
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From: LT1 land...the "409" of the 90s!
It helps rings seat as well. We use it in all new builds. I have a very specific break method that work...and no the customer does not get a ride along for this OR the crank re-learn 
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http://www.mototuneusa.com/break_in_secrets.htm
That's it. Just as simple as that.
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